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Player of the year award could be decided by a 'W'

Sporting News, The, Dec 23, 2005 by Mike DeCourcy

Last week began with Adam Morrison scoring 43 points for Gonzaga and ended with J.J. Redick bombing in 41 for Duke. Last week began with Redick's Blue Devils winning on a teammate's desperation heave and ended with Morrison's Zags escaping with a victory when he banked in a 3-pointer.

Well, get used to that. They will not share the same court during the regular season. They will not even share the same coast. So maybe they will not consent to share the media's attention either. Maybe they will fight for it, just like this.

The two best college basketball players identified themselves in the season's first month. No one aside from Morrison or Redick remains a serious contender for the national player of the year awards that will be presented at the end of the season.

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It could be quite a thrilling competition, except for one difference.

One letter, really.

ACC ... WCC.

The disparity between the Atlantic Coast Conference and the West Coast Conference could tilt voting in Redick's favor.

It's not that Morrison cannot dominate high-level competition. Offensively, he's done it at a level no one has approached since Purdue's Glenn Robinson tore through the Big Ten in the 1993-94 season. Morrison racked Michigan State's defense for 43 points in a three-overtime victory at the Maui Invitational, then needed only the regulation 40 minutes to match that total in a narrow loss to Washington.

But if Redick continues to produce against the competition he's facing--with all but three of his team's games nationally televised--can Morrison keep pace?

Known in the pastas a catch-and-shoot 3-point sniper, Redick scored 29 points in a road win at Indiana despite connecting on only four 3s. His newfound skill in attacking the goal had Texas' defenders so distracted that Redick was able to step back into hitting 9-of-16 from 3-point range in reaching his career-high 41 points.

Redick says, "Anybody would be crazy to say they wouldn't want to be player of the year." He already has one such accolade, though: the Adolph F. Rupp Trophy, presented last April by the Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky. He returned for his senior season to take another run at a national championship, and that is why he has worked to become better at driving the ball to the goal while maintaining the rest of his game.

"I don't think it's one specific area, where he says, 'I just want to do this,'" Duke assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski says. "He looks at all different parts of the game and says, 'I want to be good at everything.'"

Let's be honest, though. Two things command attention in college player of the year voting: winning and scoring. Both Morrison's and Redick's teams figure to continue winning big. Both players figure to continue scoring big. Morrison, averaging 28.5 points, was leading the nation entering the week; Redick was second at 24.9 per game.

Were each to continue producing at this pace after conference play begins, Morrison would be doing it against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount; Redick would be doing it against Boston College and North Carolina. To account for the competitive difference, Morrison probably would need to flirt with that 43-point mark routinely. If Morrison lifts his average past 30 points and keeps it there, he will be harder to discount.

Whether that would keep the Zags on their preferred course is difficult to say. They're looking for team trophies, just as much as Redick and Duke.

speed reads

A fractured foot knocked Illinois' Dee Brown out of the NBA predraft camp--and the draft itself--last June. It was a lucky break. Now playing full time at point guard, Brown has led his team to a 10-0 start and will be a first-round pick in the depleted 2006 draft.

I know Mike Davis coached Indiana to a Sweet 16 victory over top-seeded Duke in 2002. I know his team won two more games after that to reach the NCAA championship game. But I also know that the Hoosiers' destruction of Kentucky last week was the most important win of his career.

INSIDE DISH

Kentucky's appeal to reduce C Randolph Morris' full-year suspension relied heavily on the suggestion that the player and his family were not aware of several NCAA rules. If they had involved UK more, they could have clearly understood those rules. The best arguments in the case came from SFX, which the NCAA claims had an implicit verbal agreement to represent Morris. According to documents provided by UK, the agency says it typically arranges for draft prospects to have use of a trainer, car, clothing and even yoga classes, among other things--none of which were offered to Morris. Morris' accepting more than $7,000 from NBA teams in travel expenses for workouts merits stiff punishment, but UK is being a bit ambitious in requesting a reduction to nine games. A half-season suspension would be reasonable. * Ohio State's decision not to settle a lawsuit brought by fired coach Jim O'Brien--who is requesting compensation for what he believes to be improper termination--appears to have resulted in a delay in the school's NCAA infractions case. That's not helping the Buckeyes move toward the promising future new coach Thad Matta has made possible. No one from the school or the NCAA is permitted to comment about why the case has been continued. But it is fairly obvious the infractions committee wants to wait for any new information that might develop during the school's civil trial, which was scheduled to start Monday. * Texas sophomore Daniel Gibson is the most gifted player any team is using at the point, but he still is so indecisive it is inaccurate to call him a point guard. Coach Rick Barnes wants Gibson to be more aggressive on offense. "He doesn't understand how good he is and how hard he would be to defend if he'd go after people," Barnes says. * Memphis coach John Calipari always has coached his teams to play solid position defense and execute precisely in the halfcourt offense. But he's making better use of his four outstanding wing athletes by using fullcourt pressure and spreading the court on offense this season. The Tigers still are vulnerable to opponents that drive the ball directly into the defense and to those with overwhelming inside scoring threats. Memphis will be better equipped to deal with post scorers when their young big men become more adept at setting up double-teams. * Big 12 visitors to Colorado could end up choking on the thin air now that coach Ricardo Patton has the Buffaloes pressing almost full time and using the resulting turnovers to fuel a running game. PG Marcus Hall has given the team an unaccustomed level of consistent playmaking. Colorado does not have a post threat, so it tries to restrict the number of times it is caught in a halfcourt offense.

Player of the year award could be decided by a 'W'

Sporting News, The, Dec 23, 2005 by Mike DeCourcy

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